WINSTON-SALEM – It never hurts to have talented players on the floor. But when it comes down the end in a close college basketball game, there’s no substitute for experience.

Duke had it Wednesday night. Wake Forest didn’t.

It’s a disparity that played a major role in finally tipping the balance in the fifth-ranked Blue Devils’ favor.

After being pushed to the brink by the young Deacons for the first 36 minutes at a raucous Joel Coliseum, coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team got veteran plays from Seth Curry, Mason Plumlee and Josh Hairston down the stretch while Wake blinked – though ever so slightly – for a hard-fought 75-70 Duke victory.

It was the Blue Devils first win in a true road game this season while the Deacons lost at home for the first time against an ACC opponent.

“That says a lot about our vets,” said Duke point guard Quinn Cook, who despite only being in his second college season, still has more experience than any of Wake’s seven freshmen.

“Seth, Mason, Tyler (Thornton), Josh, they’ve been through wars here. (Wake is) a talented team. Their freshmen keep getting better every time we see them play, but they’re young.”

While that youth came into play during the final four minutes in the form of a key turnover by point guard Madison Jones and an ill-advised 3-pointer by forward Arnaud William Adala Moto – both rookies – it was the poise of Duke’s upperclassmen that had the biggest impact on the outcome.

Hairston made the first key contribution by blocking a shot by C.J. Harris has he drove the baseline with a chance to break a 66-all tie.

The pivotal play was a form of redemption for Hairston, who probably wouldn’t have even been on the court in that situation if not for his class standing.

“I thought he played very poorly in the first half. Not poor, I thought very poorly,” Krzyzewski said of the 6-foot-7 junior forward. “Most kids, that’s it for the night. He’s got equity, so we put him back in and in the second half he played really well.”

Although Curry finished with 21 points, second only to Plumlee’s career-high 32, he too had to show some poise in the face of adversity in a late-game situation.

After missing his first five 3-point attempts, the senior guard followed up Hairston’s block by calmly hitting a trey from the top of the circle to give the Blue Devils a 69-66 lead with 3:10 remaining.

“I just tried to stick with it,” Curry said. “Coach just kept telling me to keep shooting, because I was getting good looks. I was finally able to knock one down.”

Unlike Curry, Plumlee had no problems getting the ball to go in the basket.

The 6-10 senior frontrunner for ACC Player of the Year honors made 12 of his 15 field goal attempts against the Deacons. None of them was bigger than the tough layup he made in traffic – after a collision underneath with Wake’s Devin Thomas – to offset a basket by Jones and restore Duke’s three-point lead.

Seth Curry missed his first five 3-pointers, but made a big one when his team needed it most

“Guys made big plays, but we have been in those late-game situations,” Plumlee said. “That benefited us. Being in that situation on the road will benefit us going forward.”

Though the result wasn’t as exciting for Wake as last week’s upset of N.C. State, the experience could also end up being yet another step in the Deacons’ development.

While juniors and seniors combined to take 37 of Duke’s 54 shots and made 21 of the Blue Devils’ 28 field goals, the Deacons got 16 of their 25 baskets from players in their first college season.

Coach Jeff Bzdelik wasn’t ready to blame the experience gap between the teams as a determining factor in the game, saying “we never use youth as an excuse.” His players, however, acknowledged that it was to Duke’s advantage to have been there and done that so many times before.

“It made a difference the whole game,” said junior forward Travis McKie, who admitted that even he and senior Harris have played in significantly fewer meaningful games than their Blue Devils counterparts. “They’ve got senior leaders and they’re missing one right now. But they’ve played way more big games.

“Just look at the Atlantis tournament (in November). They played three games against top 25 teams and beat them, so they’re a very seasoned team. They’ve seen it all.”

[…] Wilmington Star News: Experience is a funny word. Sometimes it’s easy to spot (or not spot) like with Wake Forest this year or Boston College last year. Other times it’s harder to see. For instance, this year’s Florida State team has a number of years under its belt, but not crunch-time minutes (other than Michael Snaer, who was born for it). This year’s Miami team obviously has it. But depending on who you talk to (and the most recent results), teams like Duke have and don’t have experience. The Blue Devils have three seniors at its core, but right now the team also starts two freshmen and a sophomore. That’s one big difference between Duke with Ryan Kelly and Duke without him — his experience means a lot. Eventually Amile Jefferson will likely become a better basketball player than Kelly, but right now Jefferson commits dumb fouls and lacks much strength. Kelly’s not exactly Hercules himself, but he knows his strengths and forces opponents to play to them. That’s a huge asset. […]